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Minneapolis, Minnesota
The Minnesota Orchestra presented the world premiere of its commission, "Oboe Concerto," by composer Christopher Rouse this week. A thoroughly pleasant work, it was given a fine reading by Basil Reeve and his colleagues under the baton of Osmo Vänskä. Along with other works, the program also included Tchaikovsky's "Pathétique." I have not heard this symphony live since Eiji Oue led the Orchestra. As conducted by Vänskä, the work had more energy and nuance than one hears on many recordings.
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Why do some Republicans insist on speaking about real Virginians, real Americans, and now real people?
Michael Kranish reported in the Boston Globe last week about criticism of the economic stimulus bill moving through Congress. The House version – passed without a single Republican vote – contains $50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts. The funds are not in the current draft of the yet-to-be-passed Senate version. Kranish cited Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the third-ranking Republican in the House, "who has urged Obama to 'get the pork barrel spending out,'" and Rep. Jack Kingston, a Georgia Republican, who wants to transfer the proposed NEA funding to highway construction. "We have real people out of work right now and putting $50 million in the NEA and pretending that's going to save jobs as opposed to putting $50 million in a road project is disingenuous," Kingston said [emphasis added].Michael Steele, the newly-elected GOP chairman, shares that line of thought. Speaking on ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos this morning, Steele said "What this administration is talking about is making work. It is creating work.... It's not a job."
It makes one wonder what is real.
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The Minneapolis Convention Center stands four blocks from my house and serves as the portal to the downtown skyway system – enclosed bridges that span streets to connect buildings on the second level. Over the years I have observed and overheard the buzz of many convenings, including those of varied religious organizations. For three days last week, nearly 1,400 pastors swarmed the hallways and skyways leading to the Hilton Hotel for the "Desiring God" conference. According to their literature and website, this is a Baptist-related group that follows the ministry of John Piper, a senior pastor at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis. Piper's congregation has played a positive role in its community, including as an advocate for affordable housing. Nonetheless, it was a bit startling to understand how divergent are some of its perspectives from one's own. To-wit, this answer to a question about the Desiring God conference:
Can Pastor's Wives Attend? We intentionally seek to foster a male fraternity because it is rare and uniquely refreshing for pastors to fellowship with men who carry similar burdens and to counsel one another with the kind of frankness that is awkward to do in mixed company. However, we do not prohibit wives from attending, knowing that there are circumstances where it is the best choice for marriage or ministry
This is startling because I have become used to churches where women serve as full partners in ministry and whatever burdens come with it.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota audiences will be able to experience major musical works rooted in the liturgy of the Mass at least twice during the 2008-2009 performance season.
The more ambitious production will be that of the Minnesota Orchestra when it presents Mass, A Theater Piece for Singers, Players, and Dancers, at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, Jan. 22-23. Composed by Leonard Bernstein at the request of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, the work received its first performance at the opening of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D. C., Sept. 8, 1971. Its antiwar theme contributed to a climate of controversy around its premiere. I followed news reports and gossip about the gala opening; although I resided in Washington at the time, my finances permitted entrance to the JFK Center only for free public tours.
Music Director Osmo Vanska will conduct the Minnesota performances which will feature 250 performers, including Raymond Ayers, baritone, as the celebrant, along with members of the Minnesota Chorale, Minnesota Boychoir, and James Sewell Ballet.
Owing to the work's scope and the expense of its production, Mass is performed rarely by professional orchestras. However, as 2008 marks the 90th anniversary of Bernstein's birth, Mass will be the centerpiece of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra's current season with performances in Baltimore (Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Oct. 16-18), New York (Carnegie Hall, Oct. 24; United Palace Theater, Oct. 25), and Washington D. C. (JFK Center, Oct. 26).
Missa Brevis, a production on a smaller scale, will take the stage of the Northrop Dance Series, Mar. 19. This modern dance classic, choreographed by José Limón, is a 40-minute work for 22 dancers. It will feature members of the New York-based Limón Dance Company joined by eight students from the University of Minnesota's Dance Program. The Oratorio Society of Minnesota will perform the score by Zoltán Kodály.
As one of America's modern dance pioneers, Limón's force and presence as a dancer did much to establish a role for men in dance. Born in Mexico in 1908, he arrived in New York City in 1928 and soon began studies with Doris Humphrey and Charles Weidman. He founded The Jose Limón Dance Company in 1946, with Humphrey serving as artistic director until her death 12 years later. Limón also began teaching at The Juilliard School in 1951. His own death, from prostate cancer, came in 1972.
Limón's choreography has been noted for its dramatic expression, technical mastery, and its expansive, nuanced movement. Many of his works are considered classics of modern dance and continue to be studied and performed widely by students and professionals.
When the Limón Company toured Europe in 1957, sponsored by the U. S. State Department, Limón was impressed by his first-hand witness, particularly in Poland, to the widespread devastation, efforts to re-build, and the indomitable human spirit that marked the post-war era.
According to company program notes, the experience inspired him to create Missa Brevis as a memento to the cities destroyed during World War II and to the human qualities that compel the spirit to rise and survive after near destruction. The dance received its first performance at the Juilliard Dance Theater in New York, Apr. 11, 1958. Deborah Jowitt, the long-time dance writer and critic for The Village Voice, was an original cast member.
The music, Missa Brevis in Tempore Belli – "Short Mass in Time of War" – was completed by the Hungarian composer Kodály during the Siege of Budapest in the winter of 1944-1945, when he extended his original scoring for solo organ to include mixed chorus.
The University of Minnesota's Dance Program sponsors annual residencies by dance professionals to benefit its BA and BFA students. Underwritten by the Cowles Guest Artist Program, more than 120 people over the years have shared their knowledge and expertise with students as creators and repetiteurs of new and existing works.
Sarah Stackhouse, one of this year's five visiting artists, set Missa Brevis on 22 students in a residency that ended with an open rehearsal this week at the University's Barbara Barker Center for Dance. Stackhouse danced with the Limón company from 1958 to 1969, and has served on the faculties of The Juilliard School, the American Dance Festival, and the SUNY-Purchase Conservatory of Dance.
Introducing the open rehearsal, Carl Flink, chair, Department of Theatre Arts & Dance, said that Missa Brevis fills the "classic" slot in this year's repertoire of the University Dance Theatre. Flink, who danced with the Limón Company from 1992 to 1998, noted that the men and women are cast in a traditional structure, something that is rarely done at the university anymore.
In remarks, Stackhouse related that the objective for artists in the 1920s and 1930s was not necessarily great choreography but dealing with social movement issues. Although Missa Brevis follows the order of the Catholic Mass and Limón saw the work as his prayer for peace, it is not a religious piece, she said. "Although raised in Catholicism, he was what might be called a religious atheist."
At rise, 21 dancers stand clumped and motionless at center stage, hands joined. A male dancer, the outsider, stands downstage right. The group greets the music of the Kyrie with a gentle plié and tendu accompanied by a shifting of weight and opening to second position. At its end, the work returns to this same grouping and movement with the final "Amen."
Some of the imagery for the dance was unconventional, if not controversial, for 1958. A trio of women in the Sanctus section represented the Trinity, and a woman offered herself as the sacrifice for crucifixion in another. The latter, Stackhouse explained, represented Limón's mother who died while birthing her 12th child.
As a classic, Missa Brevis is great choreography that deals with social issues. It would be a good primer for those wanting to understand the antecedents of vocabulary, phrasing, patterns, and structures of contemporary dance in 2008. Flink observed that this dance uses time and space in a way that lacks the frenetic energy and tempo of life and dance today. Stackhouse agreed, noting the work's generosity, allowing the viewer to enter in, its use of space and time allowing for metaphor.
Auditions for entry into the University of Minnesota's BA and BFA programs in dance will be held at the Barbara Barker Center for Dance, 500 - 21st Avenue South, Minneapolis, Dec. 6 & Feb. 7. Information: 612.624.5060 or dance.umn.edu.
The University Dance Theatre will perform at the Whiting Proscenium Theatre, Rarig Center, Minneapolis West Bank Campus, Feb. 6-8. 612.624.2345 or www.theatre.umn.edu.
The Limón Dance Company and UDT will perform at Northrop Auditorium, Minneapolis East Bank Campus, Mar. 19. 612.624.2345.
Minneapolis, Minnesota
If you want anything cultural promoted in the Twin Cities, Scott Mayer is the go-to guy to get it done, even on Labor Day weekend when any resident who has not left town is either sleeping-in or preparing for a day at the Minnesota State Fair.
Mayer's latest project, spark24, showcased the Minneapolis-St. Paul arts scene to a global audience in a 24-hour marathon, running from 5pm, Aug. 30, to 5pm, Aug. 31.
Activities centered on Orchestra Hall and the adjacent Peavey Plaza in downtown Minneapolis. The Minnesota Orchestra kicked things off, followed by 27 half-hour blocks filled by the likes of VocalEssence, the Minnesota Opera, Zenon Dance Company, Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus, Mu Daiko, Arena Dances, Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, and many more.
More than 60 public and private venues around downtown got into the act with some form of live entertainment between 10pm and 2am. At 4am, 800 people were attending activities inside Orchestra Hall.
When performances moved back outside to Peavey Plaza at 6am, five hardy souls had been present since 5pm. By 9am, one stalwart remained and vowed to stay the full 24 hours! A complimentary breakfast was served from 6am to 9am to anyone on the scene.
The excuse for this activity was the presence in the Twin Cities of 50,000+ visitors, including global media, for the Republican National Convention, which opens tomorrow. A press center for spark24 was set up in the IDS Center, three blocks from Peavey Plaza.
Mayer's prolific promotional activities have been chronicled for more than 20 years. I interviewed him on my radio program in the 1980s when he inaugurated the annual Hollywood Academy Awards events in Minneapolis. When the mayor needed help organizing and funding MOSAIC, an annual summer arts festival, he turned to Mayer six years ago. More recently, Mayer founded the annual Ivey Awards to celebrate and honor professional theater in the Twin Cities.
Peavey Plaza has become the outdoor venue of choice for summer performances in downtown Minneapolis. Located on the Nicollet Mall and adjacent to Orchestra Hall, its bubbling fountains and the historic spires of Westminster Presbyterian Church across the street provide an open air, jewel-box setting.
